UCC Document Community

The gap between law school UCC materials and actual practice is huge. Gilbert's teaches you the theory but doesn't prepare you for when the SOS system crashes during a filing deadline, or when corporate names don't match exactly between documents. You need practical experience and current resources.

honestly gilbert's helped me understand the basic concepts but for your multi-state equipment deal you probably need specialized resources. maybe check with your state bar association for UCC practice guides or CLE materials that cover current filing procedures

Don't forget that even after publication, you'll need to track the continuation deadline. For a new UCC-1, you have 5 years before needing to file a continuation to maintain your perfected security interest. Mark your calendar now!

Great advice from everyone here! Since you mentioned this is for manufacturing equipment worth $450K, I'd also recommend keeping a copy of your filing confirmation and the accepted UCC-1 in your loan file for future reference. If you ever need to provide proof of your security interest to other parties (like in a bankruptcy proceeding or asset sale), having that documentation readily available will save you time. The SOS database search results are helpful, but nothing beats having the original filing documents properly organized in your records.

Bottom line for Indiana: Use regular search for preliminary research, use UCC-11 for official verification. Always use exact legal names from charter documents. Allow 2-3 days for UCC-11 responses. Hope this helps!

As someone who just went through this exact confusion with Indiana UCC searches, I can confirm what others have said - the distinction is crucial. I made the mistake of relying on portal searches initially and nearly missed a critical filing that only showed up clearly in the UCC-11 response. The extra cost and time for UCC-11 is worth it when you need certainty. One tip I learned: if you're unsure about debtor name variations, consider running both the exact charter name AND common variations through separate searches. Indiana's system can be finicky with punctuation and abbreviations like "Inc." vs "Incorporated.

Welcome to the UCC filing world! One thing I'd add to all the great advice here - consider doing a UCC search on your debtor before filing to see if there are any existing liens. This will help you understand the priority position and might reveal issues with the debtor's legal name that you can address upfront. The NC SOS search is pretty user-friendly and costs just a few dollars. Better to discover name discrepancies now than after your filing gets rejected!

As someone who's been through the NC UCC filing process recently, I'd echo what everyone's saying about being super careful with debtor names and addresses. One additional tip - if your CNC machines have any software components or licenses that are integral to their operation, you might want to consider whether those need to be included in your collateral description. Some courts have found that software essential to equipment operation can be considered part of the equipment itself, but it's worth discussing with your lender's counsel. Also, since you mentioned the equipment will stay at the debtor's facility, make sure you get the exact street address where the collateral will be located - NC sometimes requires location information for certain types of equipment, especially if it's high-value manufacturing equipment like CNC machines.

Honestly, for a $2.8M deal with international complications, I'd run everything through a verification tool before filing. I use Certana.ai for document checking on larger deals - upload your corporate docs and UCC-1 draft and it catches inconsistencies you might miss. Especially helpful with foreign entity names that might have subtle differences.

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! This is my first major cross-border UCC filing so I was overthinking the international aspects. Sounds like the consensus is to file in Ohio where the equipment is located, make absolutely sure the debtor name matches their Canadian corporate documents exactly, and not worry about special international requirements. I'm going to get certified copies of their incorporation documents just to be safe, and based on all the recommendations here, I'll probably run everything through Certana.ai before filing to catch any name discrepancies. For a $2.8M deal, the extra verification step seems worth it to avoid rejection headaches. Really appreciate the guidance from everyone who's dealt with similar situations!